Amy Ray
(Daemon)
On her solo albums, Indigo Girl Amy Ray sheds her folkie blue denim for punk rock black. They are harder, faster and louder, rougher and scrappier, ruder and cruder than her work with Emily Saliers. And all the better for it. Didn’t It Feel Kinder is slightly less raw that its two predecessors, Stag and Prom. She’s brought in a producer, Greg Griffith, and has expanded her helpmates beyond ex-Butchies Melissa York and Kaia Wilson to include North Carolina group Arizona and Brandi Carlile, who provides backing vocals throughout.
Ray’s folkie bent is still evident in topical songs like “Who Sold the Gun” (about the Virginia Tech murders) and “SLC Radio” (about censorship in Salt Lake City), but they’re Clash-like protest songs rather than self-satisfied, earnest paeans. Didn’t It Feel Kinder doesn’t have the rough and tumble joy and the shock of the new of the underrated Stag, but it’s still a pleasure to hear Ray step outside her mood Indigo.
Standout tracks: “Who Sold the Gun,” “Stand and Deliver” STEVE KLINGE
